I Want to Live
by Fiery-chan
Summary: After a brutal defeat at Sozin's comet, the gaang is left broken and lost. Can they recover and hold their family together? Or will they collapse and fall victim to Azula and Ozai? Developing Zutara. Rated for violent scenes. R/R. *Chap 4 Up!*
1. Chapter 1

I Want To Live

Disclaimer: I claim ownership over nothing but my own plot idea

Chapter 1

He sat with his back against the cool wall of the cave, his eyes constantly darting to the opening, ready to move at any sign of danger.

He sighed.

Another night of sleeping in a cave, another night on the run, another night of sleeping in shifts.

He looked down at the girl sleeping next to him, her eyes scrunched up, her fingers twitching.

She was dreaming again, he knew what the dream was about, it was the same one they all had. He brushed some hair away from her face, and the touch of his fingers against her skin seemed to calm her a bit.

His eyes then turned to the boy who slept on her other side, arms wrapped protectively around her small frame.

The two of them had made a pact, they would stay together to protect her, they couldn't afford to lose anyone else, especially not her.

Feeling her twitches, the sleeping boy woke up, looked down at the girl, and sighed.

"She's dreaming again," he said with a sad tone in his voice.

"Did you have the same dream?" The other boy asked.

"Yeah… Here, I'll stay up now, you get some rest too, and it's almost morning anyways, so you better get in a few hours of sleep."

A nod of agreement, and then the two boys switched places. He took his spot alongside the sleeping girl, propped his head up on one arm, and wrapped the other one around her middle.

"Hey, but before you go to sleep, do you think you could just um," the boy looked down at the dwindling fire.

"Oh, right, sure." He made a small fireball in his hand, and lobbed it over to the fire, increasing the size of the flame, before drifting off into what he knew would not be good sleep.

* * *

_"Zuko!__ Where are you? We need to get out of here; the roof is ready to cave in!" _

_Sokka ran over towards where Zuko was shooting fireballs at oncoming firebenders, knocking them over into each other, his obsidian-black sword was stained dark red with blood, obviously from his attackers, who were probably now missing quite a few limbs._

_"Where's Katara?" Zuko asked, expecting to have seen her behind her brother._

_"I don't know, we need to find her, and we need to get out of here, we need to retreat, we stand no chance!"_

_They heard a scream. Katara's scream. A quick glance at each other, and they sprinted in the direction it came from. _

_And then they saw what they never wanted to see ever. Katara huddled on the ground, surrounded by a ring of firebenders ready to blast her, and the worst of all, Aang being held up in the air by his arms, the rest of his body limp, with a hole straight through where his heart was supposed to be. And through the hole they saw her._

_Azula._

_She held her fingers in the lightning position, and a vicious smirk on her face, and they knew that she had been the one to kill the avatar. And there was no spirit water to save him this time._

_Zuko was ready to charge, his entire body seething with rage, but Sokka grabbed his arm._

_"It's too late," he said, his voice darkened with sorrow. "We just need to get Katara and get the hell out of here, there will be time for revenge later."_

_Zuko understood, and with all of his energy, blasted fire into the backs of the firebenders circling Katara._

_Sokka ran forward, his sword slicing through the rest of them, scooped his sister up into his arms, and ran back toward Zuko._

_"Let's go." _

_As they ran out Zuko turned around to see a piece of the ceiling collapse on top of Aang's mangled body. He heard a sickening crunch._

* * *

Zuko woke up from his sleep to sunlight streaming through the cave onto his face. He stood up and walked to the opening and vomited. This was slowly becoming a ritual, because that was his body's first reaction every time his mind replayed that final scene and he heard Aang's body crunch against the floor of the fire palace.

He walked back into the cave and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Katara looked up at him with sad eyes and silently offered him a cup of tea. He accepted and drank it. Katara's tea every morning always calmed him down a little bit, brought him back to earth and out of his dreams.

Sokka sat trying to clean his sword, but they all knew that some of those bloodstains would never come off. They were there like a scar, a reminder of the most horrible day of their lives.

They had lost the war, so many of their friends had died, Toph had been captured and put in jail, and they hadn't heard from her, they had no idea if she was even still alive. And Aang, well, they knew what the outcome of that was.

Zuko looked over at the tally marks they made on the cave each morning as a counter of how long they'd been here.

Six days. The longest they ever stayed in one place since the battle three weeks ago. They were constantly on the move; Azula had the entire fire nation out looking for them.

Sokka turned his attention away from his sword, which he knew would never be clean again and to his maps. They were covered in erratic red etchings, their path of travel since leaving the fire nation capitol.

"So we're pretty far north in the fire nation right now, maybe we can return to the north pole," he suggested. "The quicker we get out of fire nation territory the better."

His eyes met Zuko's, expecting him to just agree as he usually did. Except for this time.

"I think we should go back and rescue Toph."

Sokka stared at him, his face completely blank, blinking his eyes.

"Um, what did you just say? Did you just actually suggest we go back _into_ the fire nation capital? Because last time I checked, that is a _REALLY_ bad idea."

"I know, but we can't leave anyone behind, especially not family. We've lost too many already."

Toph had become Zuko's resident little sister since he had joined the group, filling the void that Azula could never fill, poking fun at his stupidity, but supporting all of his ideas. She could always be found either following him like a shadow, or riding on his shoulders parading around like a princess.

Since they had lost her to the fire nation Zuko had felt quite a bit more alone. Even though he knew quite well she could take care of herself, he still couldn't help but feel like he had a duty to protect her. She was after all, the first of the group to accept him in, after the Day of Black Sun.

She would often joke that after they defeated Ozai and Zuko claimed the throne, she would take up permanent residence in the fire nation palace, since she had no plans to return to her own family any time soon.

Zuko knew he had to go get her. He had to know his little "sister" was ok, and he wanted to bring her home to their family.

Zuko was brought back from his thoughts by fingers snapping in his face.

"Did you even hear a word I just said, Hotman? This is a _suicide_ mission, and we can't afford to lose any of us in there!" Sokka was rambling, trying to prove his point, and trying to convince Zuko to change his mind.

The two were equally stubborn, so it was going to be a long argument.

These arguments had become very common between the two boys, usually along similar discussion lines. Zuko would have an idea, Sokka would think it was crazy, and they'd go back and forth for a good deal of time, until Katara would usually step in and break up the argument, simply by saying "enough."

But of course this time it was different. From her place against the wall, Katara sat with her knees hugged to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs. She let her head drop into her lap and her curls spilled over to cover her face.

In a low voice, without even looking up, she interjected,

"I think we should go back and save Toph."

The two boys looked to Katara, and then to each other, and nodded.

With everything she had been through, the boys had a mutual unspoken agreement that whatever Katara says goes.

"Alright then, it's settled. While I don't agree with it, we'll go back and save Toph. We'll leave tonight, how about that?" Sokka replied, and then turned to his collection of maps to flip to the one that he and Zuko had created together of the inner workings of the palace.

Zuko joined Sokka to look over the map together and devise a plan, and couldn't help but notice a small smile resting on Katara's face.

He sighed and hoped that maybe soon everything would be back to almost normal.

* * *

A/n: This is my first story in I don't know how long. It's weird to be actually writing, and actually have a plot kind of in my head.

I know the relationships seem a bit weird right now, but in case you were wondering, this is being written post Sozin's Comet, and obviously things did not go well for the gaang. Everyone seems to be getting along all too easily you say?

I'll delve into that in the next chapter, expect a bit more back story there.

Originally I was going to leave Toph out entirely, and just make the story about the three of them, but maybe they'll save her.

Haven't officially decided yet. What would you like to see?

Title is tentative, by the way. Contest for better title suggestions. Winner gets, I don't know, something.

Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

**I Want to Live**

Disclaimer: Avatar is the property of Nickelodeon.

**Chapter 2**

The plan was to move out tonight, as soon as the moon hit the middle of the sky, when it cast the deepest shadows. This would provide them with enough coverage to hopefully not get caught.

            With the assistance of Zuko in case of an attack, Katara had ventured out of the cave to a nearby stream, to wash all of the blood out of their fire nation cloaks. He tried to make small conversation to keep her mind occupied.

"Isn't it amazing how much we've changed? You guys accept me as a member of the family, I never thought that would happen in a million years," he said to her softly with a smile.

            Katara looked up at him from her crouching position next to the river and smiled back.

"Yeah, if someone had told me back when we first started traveling 'hey guess what, the guy currently hunting you is eventually going to end up on your side and help you fight, but even that won't be enough because the avatar is still going to die,' I would have laughed."

            Zuko caught the slight trace of cynicism and depression in her voice and sighed. He crouched down next to her and put his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

"We _will_ avenge Aang's death, Katara. We _will_ defeat Azula and my father, and free all of our friends and family. Just because Aang died doesn't mean that we have to stop fighting, you know he wouldn't want you to give up like that." He watched a tear fall from her eye down her cheek, and Katara quickly went to brush it away. "Why don't you head back to the cave and try to get some rest, I'll finish up here."

            Katara nodded, and stood up, and began to walk away, but turned around to face Zuko, who had now taken her position at the riverside, and was scrubbing the cloaks together in his hands.

"Hey Zuko," he looked up at her as she spoke, "Thank you."

            He nodded to her, and she gave a small smile before walking back toward the cave a few feet away. He watched her back as she walked, and his eyes darted around her to make sure she wouldn't get ambushed walking alone. When he saw that she was safe, his attention turned back to the river and his own reflection in the water.

"If someone had told me the same thing Katara, I think I would have laughed too," Zuko mused, remembering when he had first joined their group.

            It had been rocky at first, Aang being the gentle soul that he was, accepted Zuko, and Toph accepted him as well since she could feel his heartbeat and knew he was sincere about wanting to make up for what he did. Sokka half-heartedly accepted him and took every chance he could get to poke fun at Zuko. Katara was the last to be won over, and she too would tease and torment Zuko.

"Like brother, like sister," Zuko said to himself, as he laughed at the trouble the two of them would often cause him.

            Zuko immediately took a liking to Toph, perhaps because she never put down any of his ideas, and was always willing to help. He had atoned for his burning of her feet by carrying her around on his shoulders, which he countered by calling it "a new form of exercise and strength training to prepare to fight the fire lord."

            Zuko's true test had been to prove himself to Katara. This finally occurred when their gang had been jumped by a group of renegades and Zuko threw himself in front of Katara just in time, when one of the renegades had flung a dagger at her, and Zuko took the dagger to the shoulder for her.

_"Zuko, you're such an idiot, what do you think you're doing running around letting yourself get stabbed in the shoulder, when you're supposed to be teaching Aang firebending!" Katara exclaimed, as Zuko dropped onto his knees, grasping at his shoulder, after he had taken the dagger for Katara. _

_            The renegades had run away upon seeing the rage in Zuko's eyes, after he had been the recipient of their attack, so he and Katara were now alone in the clearing. _

_            Zuko's hand gripped the handle of the dagger and he gritted his teeth in pain. Katara crouched down in front of him and inspected the protruding handle. _

_"It doesn't look like it hit anything vital," she said upon inspection._

_"Oh gee, fabulous, well it still hurts like it hit something vital!" Zuko yelled at her. _

_            Katara looked around for a moment, before her eyes settled on Zuko's belt, which she untied from around his waist._

_"What are you doing?" Zuko asked, shocked at this sudden approach._

_"Oh shut up and stop thinking like a boy," Katara replied, giving him a blank stare. Zuko just shrugged with a slight smirk in response to that one._

_            Katara proceeded to rip off a piece of the belt, which she tied into a thick knot, and held up to his mouth. _

_"Bite down on this," she instructed. Zuko looked at her, slightly confused._

_"Why," he began to ask, until realization dawned on him, "Oh crap-" _

_            He immediately shoved the knotted cloth into his mouth and bit down hard, as Katara's hand grabbed the hilt of the dagger and she pulled it, as quickly as she could, out of Zuko's shoulder. He screamed in agony into the cloth, the biting didn't help much._

_            He spit the knot out, once the dagger was pulled out, and gasped for breath, waiting for the pain to subside. Katara took the rest of the cloth and tied it around his shoulder like a tourniquet. _

_"I'll heal the wound when we get back to camp and I have some water," she said. Zuko nodded to her, the pressure from the fabric wrapped around his shoulder was helping with the pain. "Are you going to explain to me now why exactly you dove in front of the dagger?" _

_            Zuko just looked at her and grinned._

_"Well, you're too pretty to be scarred by a dagger." _

_            Katara stared at him, before giving an exasperated sigh and thwacking him in the head._

_"You're an idiot, Zuko. Do you know that?" _

_            But he knew from the tone of her voice that she was only joking, and he realized at that moment she had finally accepted him._

            Zuko peeled away his shirt and examined the small white scar which had remained, even after Katara's healing session. He remembered the look of shock on everyone's faces when the two had returned to camp laughing together.

            Toph's reaction stuck out in his mind the most.

_"Aw man, it was actually entertaining listening to you two beating the crap out of each other and fighting. Now what am I going to do around here for fun?"_

            Zuko sighed, hearing Toph's voice play over in his mind. He definitely missed her. The two of them had developed a bond quite like that of Sokka and Katara, and part of him definitely felt empty without her constantly around making her jokes or making up nicknames. He knew more than ever that they needed to get back to the capitol and rescue her; there was no way he was leaving the fire nation without his shadow by his side.

            Zuko quickly finished getting the cloaks as clean as he could, heating the water with firebending in the hopes of making the process quicker, and the heating the cloaks with firebending as well, in order to dry them.

"Eh, good enough," he said to no one in particular, before standing up and returning back to the cave.

            Sokka was still bent over his maps, writing notes in the margins and circling and tracing out different parts on the scrolls. Katara was lying on her side, her head resting on her folded arms, and she appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Sokka looked up at Zuko when he entered, and Zuko used this to nod in the direction of Katara.

"I don't think she's dreaming this time," Sokka said, in reference to his sister, "she's been peaceful since she went to lie down, fell asleep almost instantly too."

            Zuko smiled, glad that Katara was finally getting some rest. He took her cloak, which was still warm from his firebending, and placed it over her sleeping form, pulling it up to her shoulders, before taking his spot across from Sokka.

"So what do have so far for us, boss?" Zuko asked, calling Sokka by the nickname he had given him, since Sokka was usually the one to plan out everything for the trio.

"Well, the fire nation prisons are outside of the imperial palace, in a separate and remote part of the city, that will help us out a lot because then we stand less of a chance of running into Azula, and I fully intend on avoiding her at all costs." Sokka said, pointing on the map to the distance between the palace and the prison.

"Yeah, pretty sure she would torch me to a crisp if she saw me," Zuko replied, to which Sokka laughed.

"Yeah, then we'll have to call you Crispy, and that just sounds like some sort of a snack, and then I'll end up taking a bite out of your arm in the middle of the night."

            Zuko stared at the boy.

"Well then," he said, still staring at Sokka's grinning face, "Note to self, do not fall asleep anywhere near Sokka."

"Ok but seriously, you've gone into the prison before, when you went to visit your uncle right?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah but, I was still the prince of the fire nation at that point, so I just walked through the front door, I don't think that will work this time."

"Damn, good point. But, according to my map, there is a special secret entrance right here." Sokka said, circling in red a spot on his map.

"Oh no, no way, I know what entrance that is and I am _not _going through there." Zuko replied, standing up and backing away from Sokka.

"What entrance is that?" Katara asked, from her spot on the floor, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "By the way, you two talk very loudly."

"Sorry." Both boys muttered together.

            Katara walked over to where the two boys sat, hugging her cloak tightly around her for warmth. Zuko noticed that and tossed a fireball into their fire over in the side of the room, making it a bit bigger.

"So, what is this special entrance that Zuko won't go through?" Katara asked, trying to make sense of the boys' scribbled on map.

"The garbage chute," Zuko replied, furrowing his brow. Katara wrinkled her nose in response but then shrugged.

"What needs to be done has to be done," she said. "If that's the best way to sneak in and rescue Toph then I say let's go for it." Zuko sighed, realizing he had lost this battle.

"You need to learn to disagree with your brother more often." Katara laughed.

"Disagreeing with my brother is what I do best."

"Right so, continuing on with our discussion, please _children_ let's stay on task," Sokka said.

"Sokka, I'm older than you," Zuko replied.

"Gah! I don't care! Plan! Discussing! Zip it!" Sokka sputtered, smacking the map in Zuko's face.

"Fine, fine, go on," Zuko said, swatting at Sokka's hand.

"Ok then, so, we'll travel when the moon is in the middle point of the sky, it'll cast the most shadows on the ground, providing us with the most cover. If we wait for the moon to get too high, everything will be illuminated too much and we won't stand a chance of sneaking in." Zuko and Katara both nodded, the idea made sense to them. "Not to mention tonight is a full moon, so you'll be at your strongest Katara, and even though I know you don't want to, but if it comes to an emergency, you can bloodbend." Katara shook her head at that one.

"We won't need my bloodbending, the moon spirit will protect us," she said quietly. Sokka's eyes immediately dropped low and his voice darkened.

"Even though it was supposed to be the other way around." He muttered.

            Zuko had learned of the story behind the moon spirit during the first full moon after he had joined the group, when Aang told him the story of Sokka and Princess Yue. Since then, Zuko knew that full moons were always a bit emotional and depressing for Sokka, so he made a point of never bringing it up to him.

"So we'll sneak in, grab Toph, and then haul out of there. And _then_ we get out of the fire nation. Deal?"

"Deal," both Zuko and Katara replied together.

"Good. Now the sun's just getting ready to go down, so we should get in a few hours of sleep now while we can because who knows when we'll sleep again. I'll take the first shift, then you'll take one Zuko, and then I'll do one more, and that should be enough for us." Sokka said, folding up his maps and putting them in his pouch.

            Shifts were one hour intervals in which one of the two boys would sit awake while the other slept, and after each hour they would switch, allowing Katara to sleep the whole night. Sokka took his place against the wall not too far from the mouth of the cave, and Katara and Zuko went to lay down on the pile of grass bedding that they had built for themselves.

            It had become routine that Katara would lay on her side with her back to Zuko, and he would in turn lay on his side behind her and place his arm over her as a means of protection. Sokka did the same, and it had just become a custom between the three to sleep in that way. But tonight, Katara decided to turn herself inward and face Zuko, which he immediately found awkward.

"Do you think this rescue plan will work?" She asked in a hushed tone that Sokka couldn't hear.

"Honestly, I don't know, I hope so." Zuko replied, brushing back his hair away from his eyes. Katara sighed.

"I hope so too, I miss our family." Zuko couldn't help but feel a pull in his heart from the look in her eyes. He knew she didn't just mean Toph, but Aang as well.

            Since they had lost Aang in the battle, it had been hard to carry on, sometimes they were flat out ready to give up, and just forget about saving the world, but they always picked themselves back up. It was just very hard to do so.

"See you in a few hours," Katara whispered to him, before curling up and closing her eyes.

            Zuko pulled the cloak up over her shoulders, and rubbed her back a bit in order to lull her into sleep just before falling asleep himself.

            The hour seemed to go far too quickly, and soon Zuko and Sokka were exchanging places. Zuko stood at the mouth of the cave and stared up at the stars.

"We really could use you right now, Aang. Why the hell did you have to go and get yourself killed you fool!" He yelled up to the sky, but not too loudly, so as not to wake up Katara and Sokka.

            He sat down on the ground and dropped his head onto his knees, his fingers burrowing their way through his hair.

"How am I supposed to hold everyone together, when I can barely keep myself in one piece?"

"The same way I'm trying to keep myself together, by knowing that Aang would hate us forever if we just threw in the towel and gave up," said a voice quietly from behind him.

            Zuko turned to see Katara standing a few feet from him, her hands rubbing her upper arms for warmth, since she had left the cloak behind to cover Sokka. He motioned for her to sit down next to him.

"So what are you doing up? Couldn't sleep?" He asked her, his eyes still fixated on the stars.

"I can never sleep well during a full moon, gives me too much energy." Zuko nodded his head in acknowledgement. "You really miss Aang, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I do." Zuko replied, turning his head to look at the girl seated next to him. "I mean, joining you guys, and teaching Aang firebending, and helping him to defeat Azula and my father, was my purpose, my destiny, and now two of those things have been knocked off the slate and I don't know what to do with myself."

"Not necessarily," Katara replied. "You _did_ teach Aang firebending, and you _did_ fight alongside him during the Battle of Sozin's Comet, it's just up to us now to follow through and defeat the Fire Lord. And then hey, that title goes to you," she added with a laugh.

"That'll be a fun name to live up to," Zuko muttered sarcastically.

            Katara reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"You'll be an excellent Fire Lord, because you'll be the one responsible for restoring peace and balance to the nations. Not to mention that you'll have Toph running around all over your palace." Zuko laughed at that last part.

"I can't wait til we rescue her."

"Me too," Katara replied softly.

"Well then what are we sitting around for? Let's go!" The pair turned to see Sokka, standing and grinning, with his cape drawn around him. "We're awake, might as well head out now."

            Katara and Zuko nodded, and donned their own cloaks as well, and all three pulled the hoods down over their eyes.

            Zuko lit a fire in his hands, and set it to the inside of the cave, allowing it to burn away any traces or remnants of the trio ever being there.

"To the fire nation capital," Sokka said, pointing his hand forward.

"To save Toph," Zuko replied.

A/n: Ok, not exactly where I wanted to end this chapter, but it was getting a bit long, so I'm just going to drag out the Toph rescue by another chapter longer than planned.

And yes, I did decide to rescue her. Oh and I also decided to keep the title, it's growing on me.

I apologize for spelling issues; I wanted to upload the chapter so I didn't bother to proofread. So now, I'm going to sleep.

Major thank you to those who have already reviewed, and to those that haven't, get on with it and push the purple button already!!


	3. Chapter 3

**I Want To Live**

A/N: Hey! Where are all my reviews?

_Special shout-out to almostinsane for being a faithful reader!_

Special warning about this chapter, there is a bit of a gruesome scene, I tried to make it as least graphic as possible. You'll known when it's coming though, and you're free to skim over it if you are of sensitive character.

**Chapter 3**

For a night with a full moon, the pathway they normally would travel on was very dark. This served to be both a help and a hindrance, because it provided the trio with extra coverage, but also made it much harder to see.

"Zuko, I swear to every spirit in existence, if you step on my feet one more time I am going to kill you!" Katara hissed, whipping around to the hooded boy who was walking closely behind her.

They had put a great deal of ground between their current location and the fire nation capital since their escape a few weeks back, so they knew that they wouldn't just arrive there and save Toph all in one night, they would need to stop periodically and hide during the daylight and travel by night so as not to get caught by fire nation soldiers.

Suddenly, Katara stumbled and swore under her breath.

"That's it Zuko, you're dead."

Sokka sighed, it was going to be very long and tedious traveling into the fire capitol; he could just see it coming now.

XXX

The wooden hinged slat at the bottom of the door slid open, and a decrepit tea tray was slid inside, with some strange purple colored soup and gray colored water sitting in bowls atop it.

"Dinner time, you disgusting waste of life," a mangled voice growled through the small barred window atop the door.

The small slat slammed closed and the footsteps faded away from the door.

She waited and listened.

The door at the end of the hallway opened and then slammed closed, signifying that the guard had left the hallway.

Toph scrambled forward to the tray and clumsily picked up the bowl with two scrubby burn-scarred hands, and slurped down the sickening soup as quickly as possible, before downing the glass of murky water, which would probably kill her eventually.

"Better the dirty water than Azula's lightning," she muttered to herself.

She flung the empty tray into the corner of the room and curled up in a ball on the floor with a sigh.

Azula's menacing voice rang loudly in her head from one of her most recent torture sessions.

_The fire blazed over her hands and feet, for what felt like the tenth time today, causing havoc on her already painful scars and blisters._

_But she refused to scream. She wouldn't cave under Azula._

_Never._

_Her menacing face came inches from Toph's which was currently strapped down to a long wooden board._

_"They're dead, you know that right?"_

_Toph didn't answer._

_"If they were still here, they would have come for you a long time ago."_

_She kept her face hard, glad she couldn't see Azula's face right now._

_"Your defeat was weeks ago. The entire great hall of the palace collapsed in on itself. There was no way they made it out. And since they haven't tried to rescue you, then that means they're dead. They're all dead, earthbender. You're all alone."_

_"SHUT UP!" Toph screamed out in a howl. _

_Azula laughed wickedly._

_"Did you just tell the princess of the fire nation to shut up? I think that deserves an even bigger punishment."_

_Toph knew this had been her plan all along, to make her break, and scream out, so she had an excuse to burn her even harder. Not that Azula needed any excuse at all. _

_"Learned this little trick from that dead traitorous brother of mine," Azula said with a laugh and Toph knew that she had mastered her own version of the fire whip._

_The memory of Zuko hit Toph the hardest, as the whip cracked and licked her body in flames and cut gashes into her skin. _

_Her eyes stung with tears and she fought so hard to not let them fall. _

_The whip slashed her across the cheek right under her left eye. _

_She could feel her skin being eaten away by the fire, and finally, the tears fell. _

_Azula laughed maniacally at her weakness, and then the burns stopped. _

_Toph listened; her footsteps disappeared out the door of the torture chamber and down the hall. _

_Two guards entered, and untied her body from the wooden board, and she immediately crumpled to the floor. _

_They picked her up and carried her back to her cell, and threw her inside roughly._

"They're not dead. Azula lies. They're not dead. Azula lies. They're not dead. Azula lies." Toph continued to mutter this phrase over and over, as her body shut down and she fell asleep.

XXX

Travel had been hard on the trio. They went nonstop all night until the sun began to rise over the horizon.

"We got a lot of ground last night, gang," Sokka said, examining his maps and figuring out how far they traveled. "A lot faster than we traveled when we first left the fire nation capitol, which is both impressive and scary. Impressive because we're making good time, but scary because that means the fire nation could have caught up to us at any time. They might even be anywhere around looking for us."

Katara shuddered at her brother's words.

"Well we just won't let that happen then." Zuko said, reassuringly.

"Good plan," Sokka replied. "Now let's take this opportunity to get some sleep, especially since we'll be traveling during the night now, we'll have to sleep during the day."

Sokka walked around for a bit, before coming upon a very thick and tall bush. He crawled inside and Katara and Zuko could hear him hacking away with his sword.

They shared a very confused look, until Sokka returned triumphant.

"And now, we have a place to sleep." He gestured toward the bush.

Zuko and Katara crawled inside the little hole and were amazed, Sokka had cut enough out of the inside of the bush to create a makeshift dwelling with just enough room for two sleep and one to sit inside and keep watch, but still covered so it couldn't be noticed by anyone who passed by.

"Sokka, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a genius!" Katara exclaimed in awe.

"Yeah, wow, yeah, I'm speechless," Zuko added. "You two rest, I'll take first shift."

Sokka nodded, and Zuko handed over his cloak to place on the ground to create a bed.

Katara stuffed some leaves underneath the cloak to soften the ground, and then dropped down and pulled her own cloak up over her eyes to block the sun.

Sokka joined his sister, and the two were soon snoring away under their cloak-blankets.

Zuko couldn't help but laugh at the sight of them sprawled out inside of this little bush. They could fall asleep anywhere, irregardless of circumstances, they were just like Toph.

Zuko sighed, he worried about how Toph was doing in prison; he knew it couldn't be going well for her at all.

XXX

This new method of sleeping and traveling was definitely taking a toll on Zuko. He found himself unable to sleep during the day as easily as his friends could, which made it harder for him to travel during the night.

"Firebenders are sun people; we're supposed to be awake and full of energy when the sun is out, not sleeping. And we should be sleeping during the night, not traveling around in the dark!" Zuko had exclaimed during their second night of travel, after drowsily tripping over a tree due to his lack of sleep during the day.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, because there's the prison." Sokka said, pointing out at the horizon where the fortress sat amongst rocky hills.

"I guess it's all or nothing time now." Katara replied darkly, still a little worried about their plan, which Sokka admitted wasn't fully complete.

"Well, I was just going to improvise once we got inside." He said with a sheepish grin, receiving thwacks across the head from both of his companions.

"Let's get going then." Zuko said, and led the way through the rocks toward the direction of the backside of the prison tower.

Zuko was able to scale the rocks with ease, as was Sokka, but Katara seemed to be struggling a bit. He pulled back from Sokka a bit and held out a hand to Katara, who took it and smiled.

Zuko pulled her up to the small landing he was currently standing on, and then motioned for her to go ahead of him.

"So I can catch you if you fall," he explained. Katara smiled warmly at him again.

"Thanks Zuko. I really am happy at how much you've changed by the way. It's almost like you're the dad of the group, trying to hold our family together."

Zuko was a little taken aback by the comment from Katara, and he got a very strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't explain when she smiled at him. Not knowing what to say, he decided to make a joke out of her comment.

"So if I'm the dad, and you're the mom, does that make us married?"

Katara rolled her eyes at him, but a small laugh broke through her façade.

"Whatever you say Zuko," she replied, as she "accidentally" kicked some dirt and pebbles into his face during her climb.

The two caught up to Sokka, who was currently crouched down behind a jutting rock. He reached out and pulled them down to his position, and put a finger to his lips, motioning for them to be quiet.

"Guards. Five of them." He whispered.

Zuko peered around the rock and was shocked. This many guards near the _garbage chute_? Azula was really stepping it up a notch.

"Obviously someone doesn't want us here." He growled, his voice seething in hatred for his sister.

"Well that someone's about to get kicked in the teeth," Sokka replied. "Or should I say a _boomerang_ to the teeth!" With a grin he pulled out his boomerang.

Katara and Zuko both stared blankly at him.

"This never goes well," Katara said, unscrewing the cap from her waterskin, and drawing out some water just in case Sokka's plan failed miserably, as it most likely would.

Sokka flung his boomerang around the side of the rock, and soon after there was a loud thud, followed by mixed yelling, and said boomerang back in Sokka's hand.

"Haha! Take that! It worked!" Sokka cried triumphantly.

"Yeah, worked in alerting the other _four_ guards of our arrival!" Katara yelled, jumping out to waterwhip a guard who was running over to fight whatever intruder had just attacked them.

Zuko jumped out from behind the rock as well, and drew his swords, fighting off both the third and fourth guards.

Successfully freezing her attacker to the wall of the prison, Katara ran to help Zuko, waterwhipping the two guards back away from him.

"Thanks," Zuko said, panting slightly, before drawing his own firewhips; and the two lashed out at the two guards, knocking them into each other, rendering them unconscious.

Sokka took this opportunity to duel the last of the five guards on his own, drawing his sword, and charging at the guard.

Seeing this, the guard, who was a bit of a coward, began to run away but not quickly enough, because Sokka managed to catch his sword in the man's sleeve, and spear him into the rock wall.

"Hey Katara, wanna make sure this guy stays in place?" Sokka asked.

"Not a problem at all," Katara replied with a smirk, freezing the man to the wall.

The three then proceeded to run towards the back door, past the now frozen guardsmen.

"Thanks for the help, buddy!" Sokka said, grinning stupidly at the guards. Katara laughed, and Zuko gave a fake salute as they ran through the door into the prison.

Once inside, they stopped running. The hallways were dimly lit, and they didn't know where various guards would be hiding out, and they couldn't afford to cause a commotion inside the prison, like the one they caused outside of the prison. They carefully made their way through the maze of hallways, hoping to just stumble across Toph, since they had no idea where she was being kept.

"What's that at the end of the hallway?" Katara asked in a hushed whisper, pointing towards a wooden door.

"Wood?" Zuko was slightly confused. "There are no wooden doors in a fire nation prison, fire benders would just burn it down. Everything is usually made out of metal or stone."

"Both of which Toph can bend, and Azula knows that! That must be where they're keeping her! Inside a wooden cell!" Sokka exclaimed, as the light bulb went off inside his head.

Excited at their discovery, the trio rushed down the long hallway.

XXX

Muffled footsteps.

Toph immediately sat up from her fetal position on the floor. They sounded slightly familiar, but she couldn't quite recognize them based on sound alone. With both her hands and feet burned, it was much harder to pick up on the vibrations of people to determine who was who.

"Please not another burning session," she whispered, pleading with the spirits to save her.

As the footsteps came closer, she was able to make out that there were multiple people coming, at least two.

Toph sighed slightly, because this meant that at least it wasn't Azula. She always came alone.

"Whoever you are, you better not try anything! I may not be able to bend anything because this whole cell is made of wood, but I can still kick the crap out of you hands down! No matter how many of you there are!"

She was bluffing. She was so weak she definitely wouldn't stand a chance. But she hoped maybe she would be able to scare off at least one of the people advancing towards her cell.

The footsteps stopped. They were right outside her door.

"Wh-who's there?"

It was hard for her to hide the slight bit of fear, as her voice quivered.

A male responded.

"Hey there, champ."

* * *

A/N: Boo, why are you ending the chapter right there?

Yes I know you're asking that question right now. Since I first envisioned this scene, I knew that would be the line I ended on. It was just perfect to me.

I also realized upon writing this that having the gang get back to the capitol would be tricky, since they had been on the run for three weeks and thus would have gained a lot of ground.

So I pulled a bit of a deus ex macchina, and had them just "gain a lot of ground quickly."

Hey, better than having them just magically arrive at their destination.

To the very small number of reviewers I have, thank you very much, it is tremendously appreciated.

Spread the word to your friends, tell them to read, I thrive on more reviews.

PS – Tried a new typing style for this chapter, ff.n seems to hate my spacing, we'll see how this works when I upload it, and if not, I'll figure something else out for chapter 4.

Until next time,

--F.C.


	4. Chapter 4

**I Want to Live**

**A/n: So, I've been getting a lot of emails about people putting this story on their story alert, or their favorite story list, or putting me on their author alert, but I'm not getting reviews posted from those people?**

**Is there a reason for that? Did I miss a memo that reviews are now out of fashion?**

**If you're reading this, you can click the multiple functions all at once! You can still review! Once you're in the review box, before you submit it, check off the "add to story alert" button at the bottom and then submit. And then, everyone is happy!**

**This thus ends the public service announcement from Fiery-chan.**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own it. If I did, would we be waiting this long for the boiling rock? Or get teased by putting a game up at , making us think that the new episode is coming soon?

Ps- heard a tentative April 15th-ish date. Anyone have confirmation?

**Chapter 4**

"Wh-who's there?"

"Hey there, champ."

At the sound of that voice, Toph let out an involuntary squeal.

"Zuko!" She cried out, running toward the wooden door.

"Did Toph just squeal?" Asked a second voice that Toph also recognized.

"Sokka!" She was completely overjoyed. Her friends weren't dead. And they were here to rescue her! "Who else is there?"

"Hey Toph, are you ok?" A female voice this time.

"Katara!"

"Alright, so we made it here but um, how exactly are we going to get her out of here now?" Asked Sokka.

Silence. Toph assumed the others were just staring blankly at him, because she would be too, if she could. A thump.

"Ow!" One of them hit Sokka in the head.

"Let's see here, cell made of wood, wood breaks apart when burned, fire comes from fire benders, and oh look, we have a fire bender right here!" Toph couldn't help but laugh at the sarcasm dripping from Zuko's voice. "Stand back Toph, I'm about to light the door on fire."

Toph quickly scrambled to the back of her cell, and soon could smell charred wood, followed by the sound of a loud splintering crack.

The dim amount of light that was in the hallway came rushing into the dark cell, Toph could feel it on her face, but it was soon shadowed as her friends stepped inside the cell.

"Oh my god, Toph." Katara's voice was soft, when she took sight of her scarred and blistered friend.

XXX

Zuko emitted a low growl from deep in his throat. This was Azula's handiwork; he'd recognize the pattern of burns anywhere. He knelt down next to the small girl, and his hand brushed up against her skin, and he saw her face contort in pain.

Katara was soon kneeling next to him, on his right, examining the burns herself.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Toph?" She asked with a sigh, her voice softened by sadness.

Zuko removed his cloak and laid it down on the floor, then very carefully picked up Toph and laid her inside the cloak, wrapping it gently over her, so he'd have a way to carry her without directly touching her burns.

With the help of Katara, he slowly scooped her up into his arms, and her small hands reached out and clutched the folds of his shirt tightly.

"I knew you guys would come for me," she said softly, before her body shut down into sleep mode from utter exhaustion.

A smile broke across Zuko's face as he held her tight against him, standing up slowly, and stepping out from the now charred cell.

As if on cue, three guards came rushing down the corridor at them, fists in fire bender form, prepared to blast.

"Knew this wasn't going to be easy," Sokka said, drawing his sword.

Zuko looked down at the girl in his arms, and shook her slightly, she stirred.

"Hey buddy, think you can climb on my back and hold on? I need these arms to fight," he asked, looking down at the tired earthbender.

Toph nodded, and then Zuko carefully swung her around so she was on his back, her tiny arms latched around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Hold on tight, it'll be a bumpy ride."

Zuko accurately shot three fire balls, and all three slammed into one guard's chest plate, knocking him to the ground and into a wall.

Katara released some water from her skin and whipped it around, cracking it above her head before sending it crashing down into the second guard, sending him piling on top of his peer.

Sokka made sure to knock his assailant unconscious as well, by slamming him in the head with the flat side of his sword, before heaving him over to the other two.

"Alright, well, that was fun, but I do believe now would be the time to get out of here!" Sokka exclaimed, taking off down the hallway they had arrived from, Zuko following behind with Toph, and Katara taking up the back, water still out to take down any more guards.

A voice came booming through the hallways, "All guards to sector 9, we have a maximum security break in, block all exits; no one is to leave the building."

"Oh for Agni's sake! This is ridiculous!" Zuko yelled, "'All guards,' do you know how many guards _work_ in this prison?"

"Obviously, a lot." Katara replied, judging by the tone in his voice.

"Well let's just hope we can beat them to the exit before they seal it!" Sokka replied, still running.

Two more guards came barreling towards them, and Sokka took them both down with his sword, while three came up from behind Katara, but she quickly froze them together to a wall.

Zuko reached behind him to hoist Toph to sit higher on his back so he could run faster. Suddenly, a stone wall erected behind where the gang was running and similar stone walls began to fill in all of the surrounding corridors.

"Woah, hey! What's going on?" Sokka asked from the front of the group, almost ready to stop running.

"Did we forget that I'm an earth bender and we're in a building made of earth and stone?" Toph asked from atop Zuko's back. "I may be useless currently, but I'm still not a complete waste of life."

Zuko grinned.

"Glad to have you back, champ."

"Glad to be back, Hotman, now giddy up, run faster!" Toph replied, filled with a new vigor of energy since being reunited with her friends.

XXX

A blast of fire shot past Katara's head and she whipped around to see four guards rushing up at them.

"We've got company!" She yelled to her companions ahead of her, slashing her waterwhip through the air.

Sokka pulled out his boomerang and flung it out, allowing it to snap into the back of one of the guard's heads before returning to his outstretched hand.

Zuko stopped to join the fight, but Sokka stopped him.

"You're carrying precious cargo there, Zuko, keep going. Katara and I will be fine."

"Are you sure?" Zuko asked, concerned for his two friends, even though he knew they would be quite capable of handling the three remaining guards.

"We'll be fine, just get Toph out of here, we'll find you when we're finished with these blockheads."

Zuko nodded and readjusted his grip on Toph, before darting off into the woods.

"He was lying," Toph said.

"I know," Zuko replied softly.

XXX

Sokka darted over to his sister's side and pulled out his sword.

"Ready to take down some fire nation scum?"

"Always," she replied with a grin, turning the water into blades of ice and flinging them like daggers at her opponents.

Sokka swung his sword above his head, before bringing it down to clash against the steel of a guard's sword. He laughed sharply.

"Steel? Do you really think that will protect you?" He flicked his blade and it cut the man's sword in half. The guard stood there, jaw agape, holding a stump of a sword in his shaking hands. Sokka took this moment to his advantage and twisted his wrist, bringing the flat side of the blade against the man's skull, knocking him unconscious into the ground, with a heavy thump.

He turned back to his sister, to find her fighting off the last two guards at the same time. Sokka ran up behind and knocked one away from her.

The two siblings finished off the last two guards, and Sokka dragged all four unconscious bodies over to a tree where Katara froze them altogether in place.

"Perfect," Sokka said, admiring their handiwork. "To be honest, I was afraid we wouldn't get out of that one."

"Well let's get out of here before more come." Katara said, glancing down the path from the prison, looking for any more guards coming up the way.

"Good idea."

The two headed into the woods in the direction of Zuko, darting in and out of trees and bushes, careful to make sure their tracks were hard to follow. Sokka reached inside his shirt and pulled out a small whistle in the shape of a little bird, and he blew into it in a distinct pattern, and then stopped to listen.

Sure enough, the same pattern was repeated back at him, coming from less than a mile north west of where they currently were standing.

"And Zuko said these were a bad idea," Sokka said with a grin, sticking the whistle back inside his shirt.

XXX

_"You want us to what?" Zuko had asked incredulously, staring at Sokka, who was currently admiring a variety of whistles lying out on the tabletop of a market stall, during one of their few stops._

_"Buy whistles. For communication. You never know when we'll get separated; we need a way to find each other."_

_Still a silent blank stare from Zuko as a response._

_"When we had traveled with the Freedom Fighters, they just whistled up into the trees naturally, I just don't have that kind of skill, so this will be easier."_

_"So how many do you expect us to buy?" Zuko asked, eyeing the way overly charged price tag._

_"Only two. One for you and one for me. At least one of us is always with Katara, so we don't need a third. But if one of us gets separated, or has to stay behind, or run ahead, we need a set of code whistles for like 'where are you,' and 'coast is clear,' and 'RUN AWAY!'"_

_Zuko sighed and figured it was best to give in. When it came to Sokka and shopping, he would always just go ahead and buy anything impulsively. Sometimes it was just better to say ok and let him get what he wanted._

_"Ok fine, just two though." Zuko said, pulling out the money pouch and counting their fire nation coins._

_"Sweet! Two bird whistles please!"_

XXX

"He made you buy _whistles_ for communication?" Toph asked, laughing hysterically after inquiring about the whistles. "That is such a Snoozles thing to do."

"Yeah, I know," Zuko muttered, still not happy about the little whistle he now carried all the time, but he had to admit, it did come in handy for situations like this.

Moments later, two forms plowed through the shrubs over to Zuko and Toph.

"Oh, Toph!" Katara immediately knelt down next to her earthbending friend and began examining the injuries. "These are bad; some of them might not heal."

"Did anyone follow you?" Zuko asked, directing his question at Sokka, who was currently cleaning his sword.

"Don't think so."

"We need to find a river," Katara said, looking up at the two boys. "This way I can just completely submerge Toph while I heal her. It might have a stronger affect that way."

"There should be a stream not too far from here," Zuko said. "Toph, do you think you can feel what direction it's in?"

Toph paused for a moment, having to concentrate harder than usual because the scarring on her skin made it much harder for her to feel her surroundings. "It's just a bit north of us, just through those trees," she said, pointing to their left.

"Ok good, let's get going then; we have no time to waste." Katara stood and brushed the grass off of her skirt. Zuko began to step forward to go and pick up Toph but an arm reached out and stopped him.

"I'll take her this time," Sokka said, softly. Zuko nodded and allowed the water tribe boy to gently scoop Toph into his arms. He couldn't help but smile at Toph's gleeful expression, unnoticed by Sokka. "Lead the way, Miss Bei Fong." Toph grinned and pointed in the same direction she just had.

"That way, Snoozles." Sokka couldn't suppress his laugh completely, and took off through the trees.

XXX

Zuko was about to begin walking when he noticed Katara hanging back, her shoulders dropped low.

"What's wrong?" He asked, walking over to her.

"She's really messed up Zuko; I'm scared I won't be able to heal her. If she's permanently scarred then she'll be completely weak. She won't be able to bend, or find her way around; she'll be an easy target for Azula's soldiers to pick off. I don't want to lose her. Not to mention that with all this commotion and her senses weakened, she hasn't even noticed Aang's not here."

"Do you think she knows that he died?" Zuko asked, slowly understanding the point Katara was getting at.

"No, she got separated from us long before Azula, well – you know."

Zuko nodded, it was still hard for them to talk about such a touchy and emotionally scarring subject.

"When she finds out, she's just going to be a wreck. And I won't know what to do. Zuko, it's getting harder and harder to hold our family together. I'm afraid that it's about to fall apart." Zuko stepped closer to her, and took her small hands within his own larger ones, and squeezed them softly.

"You don't have to worry about that Katara; we're all in this together. You never have to worry about facing anything alone," he said reassuringly.

She smiled softly up at him. "As comforting as that is, I'm still very scared."

"I vow to Agni Katara that I won't let anything happen to you, or to Toph, or to Sokka, or to our family. Azula has hurt us. But I will make sure that she does not have the opportunity to do it again."

Much to Zuko's surprise, Katara reached her arms around and embraced him in a hug. Cautiously, Zuko wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. This affection was not the sort that he was used to. This hug felt different. It felt as if Katara needed to be in his embrace, needed some sort of physical acknowledgement that his words carried truth. Sure, every night when they went to sleep and he wasn't on guard duty, his arms wrapped protectively around her thin frame, but so did Sokka's. There was no emotion behind it, so to say; it was merely an arrangement that the two boys had agreed upon during their travels. But this embrace was full of emotions, and this was something Zuko was not quite used to, so he pulled away from her somewhat awkwardly.

"Let's uh, go catch up to Sokka and Toph before they begin to wonder what happened to us." He noticed a slight blush creep up her cheeks. "I mean, um, you have to work on Toph, right?"

"Yeah, right," Katara replied, becoming aware of the apparent awkwardness that followed their embrace. "Let's go take care of that then."

**A/N: There's so much more that I wanted to put in this chapter but I felt so bad for not updating for awhile that I stopped it here. I have a lot of scenes played out in my head, including some more interesting and dramatic scenes battling fire nation soldiers, and of course tons of awkward Zutara moments, much like how I ended this chapter. It's kind of weird to develop a relationship between them when I've already provided such a strong family bond through the antecedent action, but don't worry, I will make it work! I didn't proofread this, so don't mind any mistakes. I wanted to just post it.**

**And as mentioned before, if you plan on adding this to your story alerts/favs without REVIEWING I do not suggest doing so. Reviews keep me going!**

**Until next time, which I promise will be sooner than you may think,**

**--f.c**


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